FLUXLIST: Robin Page and Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend was at one point a student of Robin Page. Robin is a huge, manic, raging, Rabelaisian figure who puts himself forward in a persona he now calls "Bluebeard." He did a piece many years before The Who in which he dragged a guitar around a block until it disintegrated. Robin showed up at the Fluxus exhibition at the Biennal of Venice, the only one he had come to in ages. He exhibited his Bluebeard paintings. These were magnificent spoofs of movie posters and political posters in which Bluebeard ranted against the foibles and prejudices of the art world. The facial expressions of the painted Bluebeards were marvelous. They were filled anger, rage, wrath, greed, indignation. The painted Bluebeard offered a visual Jeremiad on the art world though facial expressions in a catalogue of harsh emotion. One could read every one of Shakespeare's sometimes-harsh heroes or nasty villains in those faces -- Prospero, Lear, Mac Beth, Shylock, with a little John Falstaff thrown in and a dash of Pistol and Nym. As strange and towering as the paintings were, Robin himself drove a lot of the other artists crazy. Robin has also dyed his own beard blue, and he acts out in word and deed many of the emotions in his paintings. Whats seems a majestic rant on stage or canvas is far less appealing ranted in your face for five or six days in close personal contact. Some didn't like the representational aspect of his art. Others found it grating that he seemed to identify many among the rest of us with the art world, and he vented his spleen in roaring streams and torrents of invective. At first, people were delighted that he had come to Venice. Those who had never met him before were especially interested to met him. Some of us really enjoyed the work. I have a fondness for movie posters and political campaign posters, and the paintings really bowled me over. But, then, I've always thought that anything can fit the Fluxus context, and once in a while, anything can even stretch to include representational painting. Ben Vautier -- who met Robin first at the Festival of Misfits in London in 1962 -- also seemed delighted he had come. Ben is known for wide ranging intellectual curiosity and tolerance. He criticizes everything, including himself. He views life as a grand panorama. He loves many of those whom he criticizes even as he sees their flaws. Other people began to conflate Robin's destructive persona with his art. Before long, the endless rant, echoed by a small coterie of young artists he had brought with him. This was a cadre of seemingly post-punk, pre-Millennial, semi-Nomad types, pierced and tattooed, wearing fright wigs and Kingfisher cuts. No one knew what they did as artists. As presences in Venice, they served as Chorus to Robin's Ranting Hero, echoing the rant and rage without embodying his accomplishments or virtues as an artist. After a while, the commotion and anger began to wear people out. They just didn't want to be around him. When I last spoke to him, he felt he had been snubbed and blackballed by the other Fluxus artists without understanding why people found it stressful to be around him. So it goes. Even so, I gather he was a talented teacher. I note that those students of his whom I seen or known personally adopted many of his splenetic qualities. These qualities include a tendency to produce extraodinary and often interesting destructive works. They also include a tendency toward harsh personal behavior, cynicism that is not always warranted, and vitriolic language. Ken Friedman --
FLUXLIST: bermuda love-triangle
High! Thanx to Ffunction for The Bermuda Love-Triangle from Near-East-Europe. Hugh! a1o1a
FLUXLIST: scanner collages
hi all, i've put some scanner collages on my site - hopefully (eventually) to compliment eryk's site it was working but was quite slow on my connection - with images not appearing, then suddenly doing so it took about 6 minutes for the whole page to show - theres 11 collages any suggestions to speed things up etc would be greatfully recieved http://space.tin.it/clubnet/abowman/freeformfreakoutorganisation_scan.htm theres also some new scores ++coming soon a report on a maths lesson with my class of 6 year olds that turned intoa great spectacle - action poetry at it's cutest cheers alan
FLUXLIST: WhateverHappenedtoJeffKoons?
Ken Friedman's essay on the Venice Biennal and Robin Page brought to mind the topiary puppy that Jeff Koons did in response to lack of inclusion in same some years back [Image] There was a video on the making of this piece. Koons, an ex-commodities broker, was shown climbing the scaffolding of the interior of the puppy, which he analogized as ascending the stairway to heaven, while he voiced his aspirations to be included in the Vatican collection. His flat commoditization put everybody on. I rather miss him. He may be still producing, however, I canceled subscriptions to the art mags years ago in favor of Bomb magazine (artists interviewing writers, poets interviewing artists, and the like) - very honest writing, so I don't know what's up with Koons. However, his work reminds me of the inscription on the Tshirt I bought at "The Spirit of Fluxus" traveling exhibition in the early 90's, with a graphic by Ben, reading "I don't want to make art, I just want to have fun." PK P.S. Is there anything online re. the Fluxus exhibition at the Biennal?
FLUXLIST: image optimization
hey... was someone asking about image optimization and download time...? maybe this will help... http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/design/site_building/tutorials/tutorial2.html later __ Get Visto.com! Private groups, event calendars, email, and much more. Visto.com. Life on the Dot. Check it out @ http://www.visto.com/info
Re: FLUXLIST: Our little audio archive
OhAlways nice to have help from a Bonzo AND a Rutle! Rod --- Patricia [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi Rod: While I can't answer your question, I bet these people can. Try emailing the folks that are responsible (*bless*) for this site: http://neilinnes.org Best, PK = http://rostasi.8m.com http://www.forcedexposure.com/artists/hunt.jerry.html noise is our most underutilized resource. listen with intent. __ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com
Re: FLUXLIST: Our little audio archive
Really, email them, this whole site was set up by fans!!! A fabulous labor of loveI've asked them a question, and they've answered. Neil Innes is the BEST...I love the Cezanne Says Anne song. Did you know they were the Bonzo DaDa Band, and changed their name because they kept having to explain DaDa? Rod Stasick wrote: OhAlways nice to have help from a Bonzo AND a Rutle! Rod --- Patricia [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi Rod: While I can't answer your question, I bet these people can. Try emailing the folks that are responsible (*bless*) for this site: http://neilinnes.org Best, PK = http://rostasi.8m.com http://www.forcedexposure.com/artists/hunt.jerry.html noise is our most underutilized resource. listen with intent. __ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com
